At 10:45 a.m. on February 5, 1944, 1st Lt. John B. Beatty of Sandusky, OH, and 2d Lt. Earnest W. Fanslau of Mantua, NJ took to the air from the Ainsworth Army Air Field in two P-47 "Thunderbolt" fighter planes for an instrument training flight. Lt. Fanslau's canopy was covered so he could fly solely by instruments, while Lt. Beatty flew nearby as Fanslau's observer. During the flight Lt. Fanslau made an unexpected right turn that Lt. Beatty could not avoid. Rancher Everett Morris did not see the P-47s collide but he heard the impact and observed the planes falling from the sky southeast of his ranch buildings.
Lt. Beatty's P-47 went into a flat spin, fell almost straight down, and landed on its back with very little scattering of the wreckage. Lt. Fanslau's P-47 caught fire and exploded in midair, spreading debris over a considerable area. Both pilots were killed. The two crash sites are within half a mile of each other in the Nebraska Sandhills, approximately 15 miles south of Wood Lake near Cherry County's eastern border.
]]>This arched cantilever truss bridge, connected in the center with a single pin, is the only one of its kind in the United States. It was built in 1932 by the Department of Public Works and named by the local citizenry in honor of Governor Charles Wayland Bryan. The bridge is 289 feet long, has a 24-foot roadway, and cost $55,564. It was designed by Josef Sorkin, who immigrated from Russia in 1923 and graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Engineering in 1929.
This particular design was chosen because it was aesthetically compatible with the surrounding environment of the Niobrara river Valley. the Bryan Bridge was selected as the "Most Beautiful Steel Bridge of 1932 in Class C" by the American institute of Steel Construction, and was the first bridge between Wisconsin and the Pacific Coast to receive such an award.
In 1988 the bridge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and in 1995 it was designated as a State Historic civil Engineering Landmark by the Nebraska Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
]]>The first ranch in this area was set up on the Niobrara River about five miles south of here in 1877. E. S. Newman established his ranch to sell cattle to the government for delivery to the Indians at the Pine Ridge Agency to the north.
The sandhills, later to become the heart of Nebraska's cattle country, were shunned by Newman and his contemporaries who set up ranches on their edge. The cattlemen believed the region of shifting sand dunes, with few streams or other known sources of water, would not support cattle and was even dangerous for humans.
In the spring of 1879, Newman and his fellow ranchers were forced to enter the sandhills hoping to salvage a small portion of the stock that had drifted south of the Niobrara River in the severe winter storms. They found the cattle had both shelter and good grass and water in the hills. Since then Nebraska's sandhills have acquired a thicker and more stable covering of grass. This rolling country with its plentiful vegetation and its diamond-like lakes nestled between the hills has become one of the most productive cattle-raising regions in the world.
]]>Spread out along the North Loup River west of here, DeWitty, later known as Audacious, was the largest and longest-lasting African American settlement in rural Nebraska. The settlers, including former slaves who had fled to Canada before the Civil War and their descendants, began to arrive in 1906-07, attracted by the 1904 Kinkaid Act's offer of 640 acres of free land in the Sandhills.The settlement included a church, store, barber, post office, and baseball team, the North Loup Sluggers, which competed against teams from nearby communities. Three rural schools educated the children. On Independence Day, residents of DeWitty and nearby Brownlee would come together for a rodeo, baseball game, and picnic. The 1910 census recorded 82 black residents. The number of occupied African American homesteads peaked in 1914, although some settlers had already canceled or sold their claims and moved away. The black homesteaders, like their white counterparts, found 640 acres in this semi-arid region insufficient for ranching and marginal for farming. The last African American resident left the area in 1936. The last parcel still owned by DeWitty settler descendants was sold in 1993.
]]>Other than an occasional missionary or circuit rider, there were no church organizations of any kind for miles in any direction. On September 12, 1910, neighbors gathered in the Dry Valley schoolhouse and organized the Dry Valley Union Congregational Church. Robert and Alverda Boyer donated land three miles west in the NE1/4, Sec. 6, Twp. 26N, Rng. 32W for a cemetery and church. The first burial was November 1910.
Stonemason E. L. Holland, who lived nearby, made and laid the 24-inch concrete blocks using native sand for the church construction. He set the cornerstone June 3, 1911. The church, featuring eight arched windows and tin ceiling, was dedicated December 8, 1912. In 1924 the membership withdrew from the denomination. Sunday school continued and visiting pastors conducted services until 1958.
In 1987 neighbors gathered again, this time to save and restore the church. Sunset services prior to Memorial Day and Christmas candlelight services are held annually; weddings, baptisms, and funerals occasionally.
]]>This natural valley extending east and west across the Sandhills became known as Survey Valley after the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad surveyed a prospective line from O'Neill to Alliance in 1887. No rails were ever laid. On January 19, 1909, Survey Post Office was established about eight miles west of here in the home of John C. Jones, the first postmaster. A carrier delivered and picked up mail twice a week. The post office moved a short distance to the homes of subsequent postmasters in 1913 and again in 1931. Survey Post Office was closed June 30, 1934.
Survey Valley settlers acquired land under the 1862 Homestead Act and, more often, under the 1904 Kinkaid Act, the latter sponsored by Nebraska Congressman Moses P. Kinkaid. They established a close relationship with the town of Hyannis in neighboring Grant County. A portion of John W. Shackelford's homestead located in Section 16, Township 27, Range 38 was set aside as a local cemetery. Eight children, several of whom died in infancy, and three adults were interred there between 1910 and 1917.
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